Keeping It Real with Rory Auskerry - August 2009

Trying To Keep His Cool

I’ve been amazed at how many people, even folk I don’t know, have commented to me about ‘the day the computers died’. Almost everyone I meet seems to have been listening, or heard about the morning when some of the computers at Radio Orkney overheated to the point where most of the key equipment didn’t work properly.
After I’d managed a few programmes without too many mistakes Dave Gray decided to let me do a programme without anyone in the building to supervise me. I was nervous about the prospect but I figured that as long as I followed my checklist to the letter and did everything the guys had told me to, it should be ok. How wrong I was.
It was during that week last month when most of the local temperature records were broken and at about half past six on that Wednesday morning we were breaking them too. The small room that our computer servers are stored in reached a staggering 42 degrees Celsius meaning that the actual brains could barely function.
The computer that prints the scripts was telling me to revert to the backup system, the computer that plays out the audio in the studio was acting up and the one that allows us to actually get the studio live to air was also on the blink. I couldn’t even call an outside line on the phones because they are also run off a computer that had decided to take a holiday somewhere hot.
More or less the only people who were cool, was Kylie Harcus, my co-presenter that morning, and Robbie Fraser who was actually several hundred miles away at the Island games in Aland. I managed to get him dialled up on an ISDN line as he was due to contribute to the show so he was there to tell what I needed to do to get on air using the backup system.
To cut a long, and somewhat fraught story short, we eventually go on air about five minutes later than normal. After 25 minutes of things continuing to go wrong we made it to eight. I was mortified at how much of a mess the programme had been and I was sorry about what the folk at home had to put up with.
Having said that everyone both in the office and elsewhere has been very nice about it. It seems that a combination of Kylie’s ability to remain calm, Robbie’s long distance advice and my days of busking live shows at Uni helped to get us through.
Dave was nice about it too and he still hasn’t sent me packing yet so I think he knows I’ve learned from it. I did laugh when I went to the pub the following night though. I walked in and asked Melba behind the bar for my usual pint of lager to which she replied; “Hello Rory, you’re only getting half a pint because we only got half a programme!”
More recently I took a couple of days off to go south for my graduation ceremony. Mum and I took the first ferry of the day from to Gills Bay on the Wednesday morning and drove all the way to Sunderland. We had arranged to stop in Newcastle to have a meal with my housemate Phil and his family, none of whom I had met despite living with him for three years. Although we arrived in the city on the nose of nine o’ clock, I managed to get lost in the one-way system so we didn’t get our meal until almost ten.
The following morning we got up early and re-grouped with my other old housemates and their parents and headed off to the Stadium of light in Sunderland. Several people have since commented that a football stadium might seem an odd place to stage a graduation ceremony and I can see why.
However, the Stadium is actually a very impressive building and the function rooms are very nicely done out. It’s also a venue signifying immense pride and achievement in the city and I think the University management therefore see it as a fitting place to host all six of the annual graduation ceremonies.
I still haven’t quite got over the fact that I got awarded a first class honours degree. I went to Uni fully intending to come away with a 2:1 at best – which I would have been extremely proud of. I went there to get the experience as much as the paper work so when the results letter came through the door I was truly shocked.
It turned out that as I had expected, most of my work averaged a 2:1 – except two of the practical radio modules - one of which was my dissertation documentary.
When it came to marking, that half hour programme about home education was given 80%. Because the dissertation module is worth 40 credits as opposed the usual 10 or 20, it and the other 20 credit radio module I did well in managed to push me up to a 1st overall. To me this indicates that if you work reasonably hard at everything, but really pull out all the stops for the things you enjoy, it seems the rewards are there.
I’ve been feeling a bit awkward about writing about all this stuff because I don’t want folk thinking I’m trying to big myself up. To be honest, I think if anyone needs to be given a real pat on the back it should be the people who contributed to the programmes by agreeing to be interviewed, offering advice or simply letting me endlessly play bits to them until I was happy with it - so thank you very much all of you!
I’m writing this month’s column while half an eye is watching a live AC/DC concert DVD. I was very jealous of all my mates who were at the recent Hamden Park gig. I’ve seen photos and it looked, and by all accounts was, a truly excellent concert.
I heard on Top Gear last week that the bands lead singer Brian Johnson is almost 62! I hope the band keep going long enough for me to get a chance see them, and I’d also like to think that I might be half as fit as them when I reach their age but somehow I doubt it. Cheerio.